When installing a new door skin on a vehicle door to replace a door skin damaged in a collision, for example, it is first necessary for the body shop craftsman to remove the old door skin, as by chipping, cutting and abrading it away.
The new door skin, previously cut to size and provided with the customary peripheral anchoring flange at right angles to the skin surface, is first placed on the door framework. Then, the flange is swaged so that the flange is in tight engagement with the peripheral rim of the door framework. The skin is thereby securely mounted on the outside of the door.
Heretofore, the backing members used to support the outer peripheral surface of the door skin during the swaging operation have marred and distorted the thin metal of which the door skin is formed, sometimes to the extent of requiring a coat of body filler around the edge of the skin in order to smooth the surface to an extent acceptable to the customer.
The present tool readily enables the skin to be installed on the door framework without mars and distortions, yet is comfortable to the hand while swaging is effected.